Arusha: Plenary Session finally takes place

The plenary session between the facilitator in the Burundi peace talks and participants has finally taken place in Arusha this 5 December. After a week of work in groups, the facilitator in Burundi peace talks, Benjamin Mkapa has said he is disappointed by their achievements. He expects that by Friday on 8 December, all participants will sign a joint document no matter how it would be called.

The plenary session has lasted 45 minutes

He says participants should converge on one or two documents instead of submitting four different ones to him. From the five groups formed, that of former Burundian presidents did not submit any document.

He says some issues that were not agreed on should be handled before or after 2020 elections.

According to Iwacu Special Envoy to Arusha, the Facilitator has individually received the representatives of the five groups in order to accelerate the dialogue process. In addition, Benjamin Mkapa expects to meet the key stakeholders in the inter-Burundian dialogue including Agathon Rwasa, chairman of the coalition “Amizero y’Abarundi”, the government representative, Burundi Ombudsman and the two former Burundi presidents.